Commentary
When the President makes and breaks the news: Can American media keep up?
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt taking questions during a daily briefing in Washington on Jan 28.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – In the battle for narratives, the Trump White House is leaving nothing to chance.
After the negative coverage which sometimes veered on the dismissive or condescending during his first term, President Donald Trump is working hard to deny the media the chance to scoop him on any significant moment of his second term.
He fires off dozens of posts a day on Truth Social – replete with his telltale capitalised letters and exclamation marks – offering news updates, unvarnished opinions on news events, admonishments to political foes and warnings to nations far and near.
On Feb 2, he posted his decision to pause the threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada
His media team is on message. His press secretary Karoline Leavitt began her first formal press conference on Jan 29 by levelling the playing field between the ever-growing tribe of podcasters, influencers and content creators, and the journalists.
The strategy reflects the changing landscape: The new media influencers, with no media training but with engaging points of view, are drawing hundreds of millions of eyeballs, while established newspapers and TV stations are facing dwindling reach.
Speaking in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, the stage for press briefings and presidential announcements which is located in the West Wing of the White House, Ms Leavitt not only assured the “new” media of a seat in the front but also allowed them to ask the first question.
That privilege has traditionally been accorded to the Associated Press, a nod to its status as the major American wire service, which was founded in 1846.
As she promised access to the “most transparent president in American history”, Ms Leavitt also invited the new media dabblers to apply for credentials to cover the White House.
Within a few days, her team had received more than 10,000 submissions.
At the Pentagon, the team of new Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reallocated the dedicated workspaces for the media.
Turfed out were The New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR), NBC News and Politico. Ushered in were some right-leaning media, including the One America News Network, Breitbart and the New York Post.
Critics claimed that the reshuffle was punitive in nature, aimed at some newspapers and networks that ran stories about past scandals associated with Mr Hegseth, himself a former weekend show host at Fox News.
The Trump White House’s new terms of engagement with the media are cast as attempts to counter false information. The press office has begun to officially release lists of “fake news hoaxes” about President Trump.
“Another Day, More Lies” read one statement released on Jan 29
Hoax: A score of Fake News outlets, including Axios, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times and many others, claimed President Trump’s directive to temporarily pause certain federal spending was “rescinded”.
Fact: No such thing took place. Instead, a memo from the Office of Management and Budget was rescinded in an effort to alleviate confusion – and press secretary Karoline Leavitt
confirmed President Trump’s order
remains “in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented” as the administration works to root out waste, fraud and abuse.
There is also a new social media account to keep in check “fake news”, which is Mr Trump’s descriptor of choice for some news outlets whose narratives he finds questionable or disagreeable.
“Welcome to the official Rapid Response account of the Trump 47 White House,” the X account named Rapid Response 47 posted in its first message on Jan 28. “We will be supporting President Donald J. Trump’s America First agenda and holding the Fake News accountable for their lies. Let’s Make America Great Again!” it said.
Before taking over as president, Mr Trump also called out “fake news” on his own. In one instance, he slammed The Washington Post on Jan 6 for claiming his tariff policy would be “pared down”.
“The story in The Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of Fake News,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Media companies, sensing the new mood, appear to be aligning themselves with the administration.
Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, is reportedly negotiating a settlement with Mr Trump over a lawsuit he filed after a 60 Minutes interview with former vice-president Kamala Harris, his 2024 election rival. Mr Trump had sued CBS for US$10 billion (S$13.6 billion) in damages, accusing it of “deceitful editing” of the interview.
If it proceeds, this would be the third media company to settle with Mr Trump in recent months.
Disney reached a US$16 million settlement with him in his defamation case against ABC News and its anchor George Stephanopoulos, who had said on air that Mr Trump had been found civilly liable for rape. In fact, he had been found liable for sexual abuse.
In another case, Meta agreed to pay about US$25 million to settle a lawsuit from Mr Trump
These victories have not slowed Mr Trump down nor mellowed his acerbic tone.
When CNN news anchor Jim Acosta recently quit after being demoted to a midnight slot, Mr Trump pounced on a chance to settle scores with his old baiter, who had been confrontational during his first term.
“Wow, really good news! Jim Acosta, one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history, a major sleazebag, has been relegated by CNN Fake News to the midnight hour, ‘Death Valley’, because of extraordinarily low ratings (and no talent!),” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The aggressive media approach comes at a time when the industry is in a ferment. More than 2,000 of the country’s 3,143 counties are left with no daily print or digital newspaper.
Mr Trump has called for the end of public funding for NPR and Public Broadcasting Service. His new appointee to head the Federal Communications Commission, Mr Brendan Carr,
Facing a sharp fall in its ratings, CNN has announced an overhaul that pivots the network away from traditional TV operations
The Washington Post, the paper of choice for the liberals in the nation’s capital, is trying to broaden its reach, in an effort to cultivate conservatives and blue-collar Americans.
Mr Trump’s Truth Social will be competing for eyeballs.
Bhagyashree Garekar is The Straits Times’ US bureau chief. Her previous key roles were as the newspaper’s foreign editor (2020-2023) and as its US correspondent during the Bush and Obama administrations.
